Category Archives: Faith

Ya Think!

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CNN.Com: Pastor weighing plans to burn Qurans amid U.S. warnings

Apparently, “Burn a Qur’an Day” could create problems for U.S. troops abroad, especially in Afghanistan and the pastor is considering the request.

My response: YA THINK?!?!?!?!?!?

Pastor Jones, you are a freaking MORON!!!! Do you really think your idiotic hatred of Muslims is really helping us abroad??? If you’re going to claim that “these people are hateful and want to kill us”, DON’T GIVE THEM FREAKING AMMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some people seriously need muzzles.

Me? A Hipster Christian?

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Taking a cue from Rich, I took this quiz. My result was:

Your Christian Hipster Quotient: 66 / 120

Low CHQ. You probably belong to the purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive, Hawaiian shirt-wearing Christian establishment, even though you are open to some of the “rethinking Christianity” stuff. You seem to like edginess in some measure but become uneasy when your idea of Christian orthodoxy is challenged by some renegade young visionary who claims the virgin birth isn’t necessary.

Yeah… I’m totally into traditional worship and would probably be Antiochian Orthodox if I wasn’t Lutheran. You know… incense (oh wait… allergic to that), standing for 3 hours (oh wait… can’t do that either because of the fibro), bowing/kneeling, acapella music, 1500 year-old liturgies…

I’m sure some Orthodox wear Hawaiian shirts.

I also would rather burn a copy of The Purpose-Driven Life than read it.

“Bones” Episode on Evil

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I watched “Bones” for probably the first time after “House” tonight and the premise of it was a priest and altar boy coming upon a fire on the altar in which something resembling a demon or devil was being immolated. I didn’t much care for the show in general — it wasn’t as good as “CSI” or “Law & Order”, mostly because the plot kind of wrapped up in the last 30 seconds in a really weird slapdash way.

It was,however, an interesting show in that you saw the views on the existence of evil from various characters including a Catholic, a Muslim, and Temperance (Bones) herself who has an atheist/scientific view point. I’m not totally a fan of how religious issues are portrayed on TV because the writers seldom “get it right”. (Please spare me the lecture about how “TV is not an indication of reality”. I’m fully aware that show like “CSI” and “House” are fictitious.) It was definitely fascinating to see how each character’s perception of evil influenced the way they reacted to the situation from the Catholic repeatedly genuflecting when they were in the church to the Muslim (Vazari?) talking about the difference between angels and demons in Islam. It appealed to the religious scholar in me and the interest I have in comparative religion.

It also begs the question for me of how I perceive evil in the world. I’m not sure that I believe in a corporeal devil or that demons have bodies. Nevertheless, I do believe that evil exists and that there is an evil force (Satan or “the Great Adversary”) acting in the world. Why else do we have war, hatred, violence, etc? I want to believe that good always triumphs but I also (in an Arminian way) believe that a lot of what happens that is evil is the consequence of our actions and our lack of consideration of others which is part of our inate selfishness as fallen people. Good can only do so much in those cases and it takes a whole lot of good to overcome so much evil.

As for why earthquakes and natural disasters happening, I want to say God is in control and I have to believe it. It is however hard to explain so much death and suffering other to say that much of it stems from poverty caused by capitalism and our annoying habit of valuing our personal wealth over the needs of others. (Example: Joel Osteen and all the other “mega-church” pastors could probably sell their massive properties and donate the money to feed the poor and rebuild Haiti instead of building bigger barns and buildings for themselves. *stepping off my soapbox*) I heard recently that only 10% of the aid pledged to Haiti has actually come through, which is really saddening to me as a Christian because I believe that we do have a duty to help our brothers and sisters (i.e. FULFILLING OUR FREAKING PLEDGES OF AID) instead of welching on our pledge.

What do you think, y’all?

Evolution: Why It’s Not A Huge Deal to Me

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Again, I get a posting topic from Jen at BlagHag. Maybe I should put her on my payroll or something? (OK… if I *HAD* a payroll.)

She blogged about how Indiana is one of 5 states where evolution is directly mentioned in state curricula for school. Not shockingly, California is one of them — we had UNITS on evolution in my two high school Bio classes.

My freshman Bio teacher Mr. Bowen was fanatical about it — he’d apparently grown up in a fundamentalist family and had students in the past who tried to undermine him with material from the Institute for Creation Research. AP Bio was along the lines of “we’re presenting this as a viable theory” and it was treated as an “if evolution occurred, this is how it happened thing” — faith wasn’t brought up and it was pretty chill. It’s also the part of Biology I liked best and the unit I did the best in as far as work and my exams.

It’s also one of those things that causes me to scratch my head because it isn’t mutually exclusive to Christianity for me. Maybe it’s because evolution does make sense — Genesis would jive with the punctuated equilibrium theory — or maybe because I’ve got the attitude that “the clock is evidence of the clockmaker”.

I Wish God Didn’t Trust My Friends So Much

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A week or two, my friend Jenn lost her husband.

Today, two of my friends (Laura and Tim) found out from the ultrasound that their baby didn’t develop a skull or brain tissue.

Cue Mother Teresa quote: “I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”

Because of my own science project pregnancy experience, I feel especially hard for Laura and Tim because this is one of those situations where they did everything they were supposed to and something awful happened. I feel awful that they’re going through this at all but I feel especially awful that they’re going to get the following comments from well-meaning (and some not quite well-meaning) people:

[+] At least you have a healthy two year-old daughter. Yeah… be as that may, Magdalena does not make up for the baby that they’re losing now.

[+]Well, if Laura had only done [insert thing], she wouldn’t have had this problem. Laura is one of the most granola hippie people I know. She wouldn’t do anything while pregnant to make this happen. This also discounts the fact that crappy things like this happen for reasons that are only clear to God.

[+]This will make Tim a better pastor. While this is partially true, it’s still not going to remove the sting from this.

Keep them in your prayers please.

If I Knew God Was Real

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**Disclaimer: I am not writing this because I want a fight — I think it’s a valid question and as a convert to Christianity, it’s one that I should answer.**

From Jen @ BlagHag who tossed this out to her readers on what they would do if they knew/had proof that God was real.

Let’s assume you have proof that God exists. You’re now a believer for whatever reason. But believing in God is totally different from following his laws and living your life the way he desires. Would you actually worship him? Would your life change in any way? Or would you rebel for any ethical, philosophical, or personal reasons?

Jen acknowledged that conceiving of a Protestant godhead would be different than a deist godhead or a Zeus-like godhead. The discussion in her comments was assuming that we were talking about the Judeo-Christian godhead. (I would personally prefer the term “Abrahamic” so as to include Islam which shares its conception of God with the Jews and Christians.) Within that framework, most of the commenters were saying that they’d rebel if it was the God of the Old Testament and going off on what a jerk this God was.

(The best comment by far was from someone who said that they “[didn’t] want to worship the god that Glenn Beck worships”. My response: “Most of us don’t worship that God. We worship the God manifested in Jesus Christ.”)

So… if I knew God was real (had proof/whatever), would I actually worship him and would my life change? Would I rebel?

I’m sure that people who might surf here from Jen’s site would expect my answer as a committed Christian to be a resounding and perky “OH YES!!! I WOULD WORSHIP HIM ALL MY DAYS AND LIVE MY LIFE ACCORDING TO HIS WILL!!!! I WOULD NEVER REBEL!!! WHY WOULD I WANT TO?!?!?!?” (BTW, anyone surfing over from BlagHag is most definitely welcome here both to read and to comment.) My answer is definitely different from that. Why? It’s because I wasn’t always Christian (or religious) and I can see both sides of that coin.

My seminary’s president, Dr. Mark Ramseth, would frequently quote Hebrews 10:31 which states that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”. I can relate to that because I know that fear was one of the first emotions I felt when I realized that OMG God is real and OMG I am such a screw-up. When you’re confronted with a God whose standard is perfection and you seriously fall short, it’s a very fearful thing and I struggled with that for a really long time.

The thing that gets me over the terror is the fact that God created me in love and loved me enough, even in my sinful and rebellious state, that he sent His Son to die in my place and atone for all the sin and rebellion. That love is much deeper, wider, and higher than I can comprehend. That love is life/soul/heart-changing and as a result, my life changed. When you come into relationship with someone you love and who loves you, your life is going to change and your outlook on things will change.

As for worshipping God, it’s a choice. I see God’s fingerprints in everything around me from the skies to the mountains to the ocean and worship, at least for me, is praising God for the amazingness of His creation.

One repetitive thing I saw in Jen’s comments was the thought that the God of the Old Testament was a jerk. (“Jerk” is about the most polite way I can express the sentiment conveyed.) Having been through Old Testament studies at a mainline seminary with a seriously FEMINIST professor, I can honestly say that I understand where people are coming from on this. However, the God of the Old Testament (who is the same as the God of the New Testament) isn’t exactly a jerk when you consider that He created the world and called it good, created man and called him very good, and then had to deal with disobedience when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. The disobedience pretty much spirals from there and you see the Israelites dealing with the consequences of their bad decisions.

Oh yes… in response to any criticism about all the laws in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy: the children of Israel were the chosen people and as a result, they were called to live a life that was different from the other peoples that lived around them. Being holy is being set apart and all those laws were meant to help the people be that way. If you want to know the purpose for all of them, read the Talmud and Mishnah. You can find enough discussion on them to make your head spin.

Does all that answer the question?